Talking to ET Online, in a telephonic interview Lt Gen.Pant said, “In the past two months almost 4000 fraud portals related to Corona Virus have been created across the globe by cyber criminals and other mafia organisations.”

It said that as the virus spreads across the globe, people are searching online for the latest information and updates on how it might affect them, and what they can do to protect themselves and their families. Cyber criminals are quick to take advantage of these concerns for their own gain, it added.

Rakesh Kharwal, managing director, India, Cyberbit, refers to data from sources such as Nasscom, LinkedIn 2020 jobs report and staffing firm Xpheno, all of which point to a demand-supply mismatch among security professionals. Nasscom reveals a yawning gap, India needs 1 million experts and has less than 100,00 who can secure networks.

The matter came up for hearing through video-conferencing before the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy, which asked the Centre to file its reply within four weeks on the plea which has arrayed US-based Zoom Video Communications as one of the respondents in the case.

Cybersecurity firm Cyfirma said it had alerted the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In), the country’s nodal cyber security agency, about conversations linked to a Pakistan state-sponsored group that identifies itself as ‘IOK’.

"29.1 million Indian jobseekers' personal details leaked in deepweb for free. We usually see this sort of leaks all the time, but this time, the message header got our attention as it included a lot of personal details - where most of the things are generally static such as education, address etc," according to online intelligence firm Cyble.

Organisations that are relying more on their web presence during Covid-19, such as customer portals, retail sites and supported web applications, risk exposing themselves through systems and applications that cybercriminals are already targeting heavily, according to the Japan-headquartered firm.

There has been a 50% surge in global cybercrimes post the onset of Covid-19, reveals India’s National Cyber Security Coordinator Rajesh Pant. Avoid suspicious mails, SMSes, and learn cyber-hygiene through a free online course, he said. The current crisis has increased the dependence on the Internet. Fraudsters are taking advantage of this to steal money, he said.